Breathable gas is administered to patients during medical treatment and often in emergency situations. Breathable gas is provided from compressed sources through mobile cylinders. Such devices are typically used in trauma situations by hospital and ambulance crews, firefighters, military medics, and the like during life threatening emergencies.
The pressure of breathable gas in cylinders is much higher than the pressure at which the breathable gas is administered to patients. In order to regulate the gas pressure during medical treatment, a gas pressure regulator is placed on gas cylinders. If the supply of breathable gas is depleted, the patient may suffer and devices driven by the gas pressure may cease to operate.
It is crucial for the operator of such devices to monitor the supply of gas. In the case of gas cylinders, the regulator generally includes a cylinder contents gauge which visually indicates the pressure remaining within the cylinder.
The operator of such devices is generally preoccupied with administering medication or providing other medical treatment during such emergency situations. However, the operator must maintain monitoring of the gas supply pressure to ensure that the patient receives a sufficient breathable gas supply. In the case of emergency medical treatment, small sized cylinders are generally carried in bags or cases to the emergency site. The regulator and gas pressure gauge mounted thereon are often not readily visible. Unfortunately, the monitoring of gas supply is a matter that can be easily overlooked in the crisis of an emergency medical situation.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a low pressure alarm which relieves the operator of the burden of checking the input supply pressure to the regulator and ensure the presence of gas supply.
It is also desirable to provide an audible alarm indication of gas supply depletion to relieve the operator of the necessity of visually checking the cylinder contents gauge during an emergency situation.